Sum of his sounds: The art of overlaying familiar genres

KOCHI: It’s the sounds that matter for Gopikrishnan. Always curious about how they were created, Gopikrishnan P N started experimenting with sounds years ago, while he was in school. Over the years he has perfected the art of designing sounds, giving every sound an ‘electronic’ twist. Music that this 27-year-old creates has a timeless charm, a deep-rooted mystical approach, that invokes a feeling of longing and instils a yearning for the forgotten, an ache for memories of the past. 

His recent track ‘Born in Kerala’ is an eclectic mix of Kerala’s traditional sounds with a spirited electronic touch, serenading one into a reverie. It is also a return to the roots for every Malayali. Artist Saynora Philip has rendered the song. “It’s folk electronic music. I have also used traditional percussion instruments, some of which I recorded at temples. I thought that visuals that also invoke memories of the state will go with the music,” says Gopikrishnan who hails from Trivandrum.

His father being a Carnatic vocalist, Gopikrishnan was introduced to music quite early in life. Having learnt piano and Mridangam since his school days, Gopikrishnan started his experiment with music quite young too. He was 17 when he got acquainted with electronic music. Although he went to Chennai to learn music after school, he left the course midway and started doing gigs, producing music. That is when he assumed the stage name 6091, a set of numbers that resemble the letters in his name ‘Gopi’.

Spirits and Heroes was his debut release, a Tyagaraja Kriti complemented by electronica. His father Parthasarathy K rendered the Kriti. Gopikrishnan experiments with future bass, lofi and other styles of electronic music. I wanted to create something unique, sounds that are different. That’s when I started layering these different genres,” he says.

Thillana is a future-bass remix of the Carnatic track while the folk song Kummati received a different treatment. And then there is ‘Unheard’ which is inspired fully by nature and sounds recorded from it. The visuals for Gopi’s music videos are often sourced from friends. Gopikrishnan leaves his signature in every music video he creates. “There are plenty of sounds waiting to be discovered in nature. You just need to listen,” says Gopikrishnan.